The Lost Bloodline 1 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Water struck his face with the sensation of pushing through a gauzy curtain. It pushed against Koda’s skin for a brief moment before parting and allowing him through. No sensation of wetness clung to him, just that gentle tugging sensation accompanied by the stronger pull of the grip on his hand.

The grip gave him a firm yank, and Koda popped through with a gasp, expecting to swallow water but finding himself standing on the edge of another deep pool. He teetered for a moment, but the hand that still held his arm steadied him until his awareness returned, and the woman in front of him captured his attention once more.

Blinking rapidly, Koda glanced around the small cave that mirrored the one he had just left.

Mirrored it, except for the woman who stood in front of him with a smile on her delicate lips.

“Welcome back, Koda Burke. I would love to give you the full welcome that you deserve, but our time is short.” Thera’s voice was throaty and full, sounding like there might be the hint of a purr in it.

The words caressed Koda’s ears like fine velvet, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. That was until their meaning sank in, and his spine firmed up.

He reached out with his right hand to steady himself against the wall and spotted the primitive gauntlet wrapping his limb, which made him freeze again for a moment.

Flexing his fingers, Koda watched as the leather and bone articulated. The dim light emanating from Thera reflected off the polished stone that decorated it.

The gauntlet ran all the way up to cover his elbow and a few inches beyond. Thick leg bones guarded his forearm, while polished stones and the fangs of great predators decorated the spaces in between. The leather felt both supple and soft against his skin, yet hard enough to match metal on the outside. Sharp claws of carved bone tipped each of his fingers and hooked forward like razor-edged threats, while smaller bones guarded his individual fingers.

Shaking off his distraction, Koda turned his eyes back to the woman in front of him and nodded.

“How can I help?”

The four words, so simple to utter but filled with conviction, made the dark-haired woman smile even wider.

Thera bit her lower lip delicately for a moment, her sharp teeth denting the flesh there but not piercing it before she nodded once.

“The last of those who know of my survival fight for their lives outside the cave we are inside. If things continue the way they are, enemies will wipe my people out. Then I will fade. Their belief in me over the centuries is the last of what allows me to survive. I might have lived another hundred years as the faintest hint of a ghost, but I have given you what power I could spare. It will empower your weapon and strengthen you to be far more than you appear.”

Thera gestured to the gauntlet that wrapped Koda’s right hand. He flexed his fingers once more, the bone claws clicking together quietly. He could feel the soft leather playing under his grip, and Koda instinctively knew the claws were not just for decoration and would be far more deadly than one might expect.

Looking up from the gauntlet, Koda flinched at the sight of Thera now. While she had been pale when he first emerged from the pool of water, she now looked sickly and translucent.

“Thera, tell me quickly. How can I help you?” he rushed to demand, even as the goddess who had called him to this world grew fainter, fading out like a mist struck by the sun.

“Defend my people. As long as those who believe in me survive, I will as well. I sacrificed my last totem to make your weapon, so actions you take in my name will give me strength. Find holy sites to claim in my name, and that will empower me further. Seek out places of power in the natural world and anoint them with the lost bloodline that has returned.”

As Thera spoke aloud, threads of her form frayed at the edges, spinning free to be drawn into the gauntlet on his right arm even as she grew fainter.

“Save the people, and find places of power in the world to claim. Got it. Hang on, Thera. You promised me a family again. I’m going to hold you to that,” Koda recounted in a decisive tone.

Thera’s fading lips twisted into a relieved smile, and she nodded before the last of her form faded away. The light died with it, leaving him wrapped in shadows.

Surrounded by darkness, Koda should have felt panicked and alone. He should have been terrified of being abandoned like this.

Instead, he felt empowered.

Instead, he felt determined.

Instead, he could see a faint trickle of light coming from off to his left, and he strode determinedly toward it.

The light grew quickly and revealed rough walls formed by simple tools that narrowed tightly before slipping out from behind a large stone to emerge into what looked like a mineshaft.

Walls and ceiling of granite supported by ancient timbers surrounded him. A smoking torch burned on the wall beside him, casting thick shadows over the passage he had just emerged from.

Taking a few steps away from the torch, Koda glanced over his shoulder. If he hadn’t just emerged from the concealed passage, he would have walked right past it. The light of the torch threw wavering shadows that made the passage look like nothing more than a small divot in the wall.

Swallowing once, Koda squared his shoulders and nodded, resolute.

A quick look around confirmed his thoughts that this had to have been a mine at some point. He could see the ancient scars on the wall and floor from tools, though nothing remained of whatever ore was being carved out. A single passage curved away, and he could see more light coming from that direction.

“Let’s see if we can find the exit,” Koda muttered. “Thera said our people need help, after all.” A thrill ran through him at saying our people.

He moved into a slow trot, keeping an eye on his feet as he worked to avoid tripping on the uneven floor.

Koda worked his right arm as he moved, stretching it and rolling his shoulder to get used to the weight of the primitive gauntlet he now wore.

Thera had told him it was a weapon. Her last totem given a new form. He could feel a slight warmth emanating from the leather and bone construction. In fact, he swore he could feel the squeezing sensation of someone gripping his hand like when Thera had pulled him through the pool.

Turning a corner, Koda saw a burst of light ahead and to his right where the tunnel branched, so he picked up speed.

The sounds of shouting echoed oddly down the tunnel, and he increased his pace once more. A moment later, he felt a breeze on his face and emerged into dazzling sunlight.

Blinking furiously to clear his watering eyes, Koda batted at his face with his left hand in an attempt to scatter the glare from his vision.

Through watering eyes, he could see his destination ahead of him. While minutes before, the valley he had entered the cave from had been narrow, and a large split boulder blocked the entrance to the cave, this valley spread out before him unobstructed.

He stood high on a ridge that overlooked a sprawling valley that cupped several winding rivers. Those rivers cavorted amongst pine and oak trees before diving over cliffs and down ravines to hurry out into the flatlands that rolled away into the distance. A brilliant blue sky studded with soft clouds hung overhead like the memory of a dream.

But what was most concerning was the village that lay just below the cave mouth, barely a hundred yards away. Smoke rose from several buildings, and the air was torn by the sounds of screams accompanying the echoes of clashing combat as people fought for their lives. People dressed in odd clothes raced back and forth, screaming, fighting, and in some places, dying. Monsters were attacking the village. Monsters that looked eerily similar to the people of the village.

Surveying the battle in progress, Koda could see that the village’s defenders fought in scattered groups and would likely fall shortly, overwhelmed by the gangling monsters that besieged the rustic settlement.

The shrieks of the injured mixed with screams of fury from the embattled as warriors clashed against the threats.

As he watched, a muscled warrior-woman with a short, mottled, red-black mop of hair drove a broad-bladed spear through the torso of a man who had three arms and a misshapen spine.

The blow drove the man-creature to one side as it tried to claw at the face of a villager who lay sprawled on the road at the spearwoman’s feet.

“Back, monster!” the redheaded woman roared before kicking the creature hard enough to send it sailing into the street. “Up, Ula. Get to the square! Get everyone to the square! The hunters will buy you time!”

“Thank you, huntress!” The woman who had been about to have her eyes gouged out by the creature panted in thanks before scrambling to her feet.

The villager raced down the street, clutching at the simple wool dress she wore to keep it out of the way, dodging past several bodies that already cluttered the packed earth of the road.

Blowing a breath out through his nose, Koda watched as the spear-wielder drove the wide iron blade into the back of the downed man-monster’s neck to end its thrashing and screeching.

That done, she whirled to race down another narrow alley towards the sound of more fighting. Something long and red trailed behind her, a sash of some kind, but she was gone before he could make it out.

Breaking into a jog, Koda hurried down the narrow road from the cliff to follow her. If she was some kind of protector for the village, then it made sense to help her. It meant that he would be sure that he only fought the right people.

Glancing down at the dead, misshapen, half-naked man as he passed, he suppressed a shudder.

Not like it would be hard to tell, if that is how the monsters all look. Thera, I would have appreciated more guidance besides ‘drive off the invaders’, he thought as he navigated the tight confines between buildings.

Emerging onto another road, Koda immediately spotted his target. The redheaded woman was engaged with four of the crooked people, three males and a female. He could tell that one was a female because her sagging breasts hung exposed to the air within a tattered dress—all five of them.

The creatures lashed at the woman with crude weapons that looked like farm implements someone had twisted into tools of war. They moved with unnatural speed and had joints that seemed to refuse to follow the expected rules for what direction they were meant to flex or how far.

Crouching just behind the redheaded warrior woman was a pair of children, likely no older than five or six.

The spearwoman’s sash danced and flicked as she moved, fending the monsters off with her spear but not able to score a decisive blow as they harried her. She couldn’t maneuver without exposing the children to danger, and they remained paralyzed in fear behind her.

The fact the woman was fighting what looked like a losing battle, but to defend children, galvanized Koda out of his disgust at the gnarled monsters.

Focused on their prey and the woman, the four monsters fought with single-minded purpose. They were unaware of his approach as three fought to trap the spear, so the other could kill the woman.

So focused were they that when Koda hit the group of bent monsters from behind in a shoulder tackle, he swept two of the four off their feet and threw them into a wall to land in a squalling heap.

The female monster spun on him with a shriek of fury. The shriek came from a mouth that opened not only horizontally like a mouth normally would but with her chin splitting in half to reveal hundreds of ragged teeth like a horror-movie version of a grasshopper.

Before the female monster could act, a shower of gore erupted from her bare chest as the tip of the redhead’s spear burst through. The redheaded woman had seen the opportunity when the monster turned and struck.

Not taking a chance, Koda slapped out with the clawed fingers of his gauntlet. The blow opened the female monster’s throat.

A moment later, the warrior woman kicked the monster off the spear and whirled to club the last standing monster in the side with the haft.

Koda turned to the two downed monsters, who were struggling with each other to get free. Their many-jointed limbs, previously an advantage but now only getting in the way, flailed about, kicking up the dust of the road.

Stomping down hard with one boot, Koda pinned the arm of one of the two to the road with his entire weight, intending to go for this one’s throat as well. The crunch of breaking bone surprised him, but it only slowed him for the barest of moments.

The bone-clawed tips of his gauntlet sunk into the creature’s neck, and he ripped downwards, opening the chest as well. His taloned gauntlet sliced cleanly through the creature’s ribs as if they were not there. The monster gave one last weak thrash before going still.

Behind him, Koda heard a meaty shunk noise that he was willing to bet was the redhead spearing her opponent, given that the shrieks of the last standing monster died off into a gargle.

Good, nothing at my back now besides an ally, right? he thought quickly while he shifted clear of the dead body.

Not wanting to take a chance with the last of the downed monsters, Koda drop-kicked it in the side to a cacophony of breaking ribs. The power that Thera had promised him as a champion showed itself then as his kick lifted the beast off the ground and bounced it off the wall again, its chest caving inwards from the blow.

As the last of the monsters wheezed on the ground, clutching its chest in pain, Koda wound up for another kick, this time at its head. The blow snapped the creature’s neck, and it went limp.

Turning to check on the warrior woman and her two youthful wards, he came face to spear-tip and froze.

“Who are you!?” snarled the warrior, her eyes flashing while her sash flapped in the wind behind her. A wind that also stirred at her short hair, too.

“I’m here to help you. We need to drive these creatures off,” Koda snapped back, nodding to the dead in front of them.

The warrior-woman studied him for a long moment, her eyes dropping to his bloody gauntlet before bouncing back up to his face. The front of her shirt flapped in the slight breeze, revealing the barest curve of her chest. She looked like she’d dressed in haste, with the tail of her shirt untucked from the close-fitting pants she wore.

Koda did his best to not think about the fact that he’d killed several creatures. Right now, he needed to focus on saving people. He could freak out about having to kill later. His determination to do the right thing helped him from losing it entirely in the moment. That and the distraction of the beautiful woman in front of him.

“All right, but you will explain more later, stranger,” the spear-toting warrior woman said finally.

“Koda.”

“What?”

“I’m not ‘stranger.’ My name is Koda.”

“Fine, Koda. Help me evacuate as many people to the center of the village as we can,” the woman urged before snapping her spear to one side.

The motion flicked the blood clear of the wide blade. She kept the weapon held out to one side while crouching next to the scared children to talk to them, speaking quickly in a low tone. Koda wanted to listen in, but the furtive movement and the second to think allowed him to spot something else that distracted him instead.

What he had thought was a sash that hung from her waist was not actually a sash.

It was a tail.

A long, red-and-brown speckled tail that was flicking ever so slightly as the woman spoke. The stirring motion also drew his attention to her short hair, and Koda spotted a pair of pointed canine ears emerging from the top of her head.

Huh… fox? No, the fur pattern isn’t right. Almost looks like a red wolf, Koda thought as the woman rose to turn her glare back at him.

“Lead the way, miss.”

“Sienna!” the woman snapped. “Not miss. I am a warrior!”

Koda nodded in understanding and hurried after her, leaving behind the bloody corpses of four enemies in their wake. As he followed after the animal-featured woman, he could feel the thrumming pulse of the goddess’s approval in the gauntlet he wore.